Telemedicine sometimes seems as though it makes more stress, rather than less. This is particularly true for staff who have technologic fatigue. Collaboration might be different. 

As reported by Health Day, nearly 50% of physicians report one of the signs of burnout. This is not a new phenomenon and has been reported before. A study by Tait Shanaflet in the August 20, 2012 Archives of Internal Medicine reported on physicians who had experienced at least one of several significant symptoms: emotional exhaustion, cynicism, low professional esteem, depression, suicidal tendency, enthusiasm dissipation, and negative views about balance between work and life.

What happened to the bushy-tailed, bright-eyed high school students who really wanted to be a doctor?  That discussion should wait. More important, what can we, each of us, do about it, now?

Get a friend.

There is both old and new research, as well as popular advice to endorse this idea. A brief, quick read with a few starting references is available at this blog. 

We used to be able to find a friend in the hallway, the doctor's lounge, or the ER at night. We used to get subtle emotional support while we asked for help with a problem patient. No more! HIPAA, hospitalist practice, outpatient practice, surgi-centers, and an atmosphere of regulation and sometimes mandatory reporting of behavior, have all formed an invincible, unbeatable team of isolation implementers. When we were residents, a nurse became both confidant and mentor. As we mature in practice, these relationships are even more important, but ever more difficult to nurture. Each contributor to healthcare, whether administrator, support staff, high-level or low-level should help each other. However, there is no system to do so, and worse, such relationships are discouraged. 

iClickCare is the medical collaboration app from the company ClickCare. Even before the app was born, before there was a company, two physicians struggled to solve their own problems in medicine. Their mantra was (and continues to be) "Access, Collaboration, Education."

The very features and coding of iClickCare are designed to be a legal/modern substitute for the hallway, lounge and ER. iClickCare fosters those same interactions that are so difficult to experience now, and the network encourages all providers to take part. 

By Medical Collaboration, patients get the best of their providers' knowledge. The providers get the best of each other's advice, perspective, support and respect. The weight of each decision can be shared. The joy of friends can be experienced again.

You can go to your home feeling satisfied and not alone.

Join us, build your network. None of us should suffer what this study uncovered. Each of us can do something about it!

You can be collaborating and working with friends immediately. Full functionality for 14 days; and then read and comment after that for Free.